The Hickory Hut in Dallas, Georgia is a much-beloved and cherished local landmark for the denizens of Paulding County. Located across the street from Paulding Memorial Hospital, it has been serving BBQ and Brunswick Stew to hungry folks for many years. For a long time, it was known as The Hickory House, but something happened about the owner retiring, selling some of his recipes to another establishment in nearby Hiram, GA, and, when he decided to reopen, the name had to be changed to The Hickory Hut to avoid any conflict (if anyone knows that I'm off the target with this 'history', please let me know). Regardless, my family and friends in Paulding County have been telling me for years that I have to go The Hickory Hut if I'm looking for good 'hole-in-the-wall' barbecue. Now, you may notice from the original BBQ Quest post, The Hickory Hut is not on the list, but I haven't had the chance to visit any of those places since my last post. And, I've always known that I was going to include some of the better "hole-in-the-wall" places that dot the landscape of the Southeast, even those that don't serve barbecue.
Today, I finally found myself able to make a visit to The Hickory Hut for the first time (truth be told, my beautiful wife was feeling sick so I was free to look for some BBQ on my own for lunch). This ended up being a 'solo' trip, because my eating buddy Bill is on vacation with his family right now. So, armed with my camera phone and a gnawing hunger for some good 'cue, I head off toward Dallas. Knowing that I would be taking a chance of fighting the work-day lunch crowd, I drove by The Hickory Hut at 12:15 p.m. If a crowd is any indication of the quality of the food, I knew right away that this place must be
the place to eat in Dallas. As a matter of fact, it was so packed in the parking lot, I decided to run a few more errands and return at a later time in the afternoon (
for business hours, see photo at left). To be fair, The Hickory Hut doesn't have the biggest parking lot, but I've seen bigger places with less patrons during lunch time. And speaking of the parking lot, I'll warn you that you'll have to be careful pulling in and out, because it is a heavily trafficked area with little room to maneuver in the actual lot.
I pulled back into the parking lot at about 1:45 p.m., and the crowd had definitely subsided. When I wondered inside, I noticed a wood-carved sign hanging above the cash register that told you to place your order and pay before you took your seat. I stood in line behind a couple of ladies who were placing a 'to go' order, but it didn't take very long for me to work my way to the cashier. At the register, they have a menu for you to look over, but I quickly noticed that my needs would be best served by ordering the BBQ Plate. For $6.50, my order would come with chopped barbecue with sauce, Brunswick Stew, french fries, and a heated bun. Tagging on a sweet tea (what else?), I paid the cashier, received an ticket stub with an order number, and made my way to one of the booths.
In terms of the setting, The Hickory Hut isn't a large establishment, but it was very clean compared to many other BBQ joints that I have frequented. There are about seven booths and five or six stools that line a counter in front of the kitchen (
see photo at left). As you enter, you'll notice a display stand that offers a variety of potato chips and packaged fruit pies for you to purchase (but you won't be thinking about those pies when you notice the homemade ones on the counter...more on that in a bit). Let's be honest to say that sometimes a barbecue joint can be a littler overwhelming in terms of the smokey smell, but that wasn't the case with The Hickory Hut.
It didn't take but a couple of minutes for the young lady behind the counter to call out "44", after which I was presented with a tray holding a styrofoam container and a cup of sweet tea. When I got back to my booth, I opened up the container and found my barbecue, french fries, and Brunswick Stew (
see photo at left). The serving of chopped pork was generous with most of the meat covered in sauce, and the french fries were large-cut with plenty of them stacked into their section of the container. I was a little disappointed in the amount of Brunswick Stew that was provided, but I guess I shouldn't have expected much more when you basically are ordering a combo meal. At first, I thought the toasted bun was a piece of cornbread that was wrapped in paper, but, upon unwrapping it, I realized that the bun had just be squished a little flat by the press.
The chopped pork, as shown in the photo above, was served with the sauce already poured on the meat, so I had to carefully pick at the side of my serving to sample the taste of the meat without the sauce. It did have a smoked flavor, but not as strong as I prefer. If there is anything that I'm learning by writing this blog, it's helping me to understand what I enjoy about barbecue. As it turns out, I'm a fan of meat that has a definite smoked taste. Now, that's not to say that I didn't enjoy the pork at the Hickory Hut; it was good! It had a hint of smoked flavor, and it was a moist serving of meat (you don't want the meat to be too dry). Now, I don't recall the exact words from the menu, but it does mention something about The Hickory Hut's famous sauce. I'll back them up on this, because it was definitely a great sauce. It had the consistency that one would expect from a tomato-based sauce, and it had a little zing to it that really made the serving great! Since it was so good, I didn't really mind that they had poured so much onto my plate. As I said, I'm learning as I go along...and I've learned to ask for my sauce to be served on the side. Even when it's a great sauce like the one at The Hickory Hut, I enjoy sampling the taste of the pork prior to covering it with sauce. I believe that good pork barbecue meat can stand by itself. If you have to cover it with a sauce to make it taste good, it must not be very good to start with. But, again, the chopped pork at The Hickory Hut was good, although I don't know if I would put it at the top of my list of favorites (I may have placed myself in jeopardy with my family and friends from Paulding with that comment).
Now, on to the sides! I'll go ahead and get the toasted bun out of the way. It was a white bread hamburger bun from a sack that had been toasted in a sandwich press. And I when I say it was put into a press, I mean it was pressed! I literally had to peel it apart, but I did use it to create a sandwich. Thanks to the large serving, however, I still had plenty of meat to eat after polishing off the bread. In regard to the fries, I'm normally not a fan of large-cut fries, but these were very good. They were the last thing that I finished off, dipping them in ketchup from a squeeze bottle that was located on my table. I was anxious to try the Brunswick Stew, because it is one of my favorite dishes. Right away, I noticed that The Hickory Hut's Brunswick Stew had a different look. Yes, it had the traditional meat, corn, tomatoes, and such, but it appeared to already have some cornbread mixed into the stew. If that's not the case, you sure could have fooled me...but, remember, I've admitted that I'm not a food expert. Like their BBQ sauce, the Brunswick Stew had a little kick to it. I could also pick up on the tomato-base more so than some others that I have tasted. As I have said before, Brunswick Stew can sometimes come out as a bland mixture of stuff, but not so with the stew at the Hickory Hut! It was definitely a great side; I just wish they had given me more of it. Just like with Harold's Barbecue in Atlanta, I'll definitely order more of this side on my next visit. Finally, the sweet tea was very good, and they gave me a free refill as I was leaving. Nothing's better on a hot July day in the South!
As I was leaving (already quite full, I must add), I decided to swing by the cashier and order a fried peach pie to go (
see photo at left). My aunt Cathy was telling me on the Fourth of July that my cousin Nathan, who is proudly serving our country in Afghanistan, loves their fried apple pies. They went to the trouble to wrap the pie in paper and place it in a sack. Sack and sweet tea in hand, I wondered out to the truck. After snapping the exterior photos show above, I started on down the road eating my fried peach pie. Let me go ahead and say that I LOVE fried peach pies, and, the problem is, you just can't find enough places that serve them anymore. You can tell that The Hickory Hut makes their pies from scratch, thanks to the generous crispy dough and the slight hint of shortening as you gobble it down. The fruit filling was great, and I must say that the pie was a great end to a very good meal. I would suggest eating one of these pies at the restaurant and asking them to heat it up for you, however. If it had been hot and dabbed with a little butter, I think I would have fallen in love.
So, I would definitely recommend folks to stop by The Hickory Hut in Dallas, Georgia. It's got a great sense of place as it has been a landmark in Paulding County for many years. And the food is pretty good to boot! My uncle Merle mentioned something about how good their chili dogs are, so I may be going back to give those a try as well.
The Hickory Hut does not have a website, so I can't post a link! For directions, just find your way to Paulding Memorial Hospital in Dallas, GA then look diagonally across the street.
~Dave
Unless you're from Cartersville, Georgia, you may not have heard about a relatively new place called "Flavor" that's located in the heart of Cartersville's historic downtown. Located on the west side of the railroad track (the same side as Cartersville's Depot and Friendship Plaza), Flavor is one of the best places in the surrounding counties to find some good ol' country cooking. And, to locals, that's saying something when they're used to places like Doug's Place in Emerson (another good one that I haven't 'reviewed' yet). But, if you're into the kind of food that screams, "I love the South", Flavor is one place that you have got to check out! Not to mention, Downtown Cartersville is undergoing what some might call a rebirth, and it is filling up with a variety of good places to eat, shop, and play. As a matter of fact, I'm planning on reviewing several places in Cartersville and Bartow County in the coming months. To start that off, I had the opportunity to eat at Flavor today with my dad, and we had a great time scarfing down some incredible food.
Flavor operates in a way that I've not seen before at your typical "meat and three". Its not a buffet and its not a place where you order off the menu. Each person pays nine dollars a plate (sorry, but I didn't check on kids prices), which includes your plate, your drink, salad or soup, bread, and a dessert. First, you pick up your dessert, which is one of several types of cakes (I usually get the lemon cake). Next, you fill your own drink cup with either sweet tea, unsweet tea, fresh lemonade, or water (believe it nor not, I usually get the lemonade here, so I can't comment on the quality of their tea). Then, you face what looks like a food line in a cafeteria, where someone will ask you if you want a salad or soup in addition to the type of bread you would prefer (biscuit, roll, or corn muffin). After making those decisions, the same person will pick up a large plate and will ask you what you want to eat. And here's the unique part of Flavor: the plate is huge, and they will keep piling food on the plate until you tell them to stop. There's no return trips, but you won't need any. The portions are generous to say the least! Once you've finished with your selections and picked up your silverware, you'll move on to the dining area (sometimes a server will take you tray for you).
The menu options have been different each time that I have been to Flavor, but I didn't ask about an exhaustive list of what they serve or if the same items are served on specific days. What I've noticed is that its the two meats that change each day, with the twelve vegetables staying about the same. Today, they were serving pulled roast beef with gravy and mustard-BBQ chicken breasts as the main dishes. Other meats that I've seen them offer have been fried chicken, country-fried steak, fried catfish, and meatloaf. Today's vegetables included black-eyed peas, corn, brocoli, boiled okra, mashed potatoes, rutabagas, lima beans, rice, boiled cabbage, macaroni-and-cheese (it's great), and collard greens to mention those that I can recall. The desserts that were offered today included strawberry cake, pound cake, yellow cake with chocolate icing, red velvet cake, and lemon cake.
Flavor is nicely decorated with country-themed items without looking like the inside of a barn. It is very clean, which has made it one of the few "hole-in-the-wall" places that my wife doesn't mind eating at. One of the eclectic features of the place is the different chairs that they have at their tables. I wouldn't be surprised if only two of the chairs actually matched. I also think it's neat how the floor is covered with those classic black and white tiles that bring to mind all of those old kitchens with countless Southern moms and grandmothers cooking the food that we're still enjoying in places like Flavor. But as I've said, it is a clean and well-decorated establishment, so you won't feel like you're eating in some run-down place in the middle of a Georgia backroad. I can't say enough good things about this place. If you're anywhere near Cartersville around lunch time, make sure to head on over to Flavor in Cartersville's historic downtown. You won't regret it!
